On February 25, 2024, the “single voting day” for the national parliament and local councils took place in Belarus. This was likely the least free election in the history of the nation. Politically sterile, with no opposition on the ballot or in the election commissions, Lukashenka is ushering in a process that the democratic opposition calls a “special operation.”

Jakob Wollenstein

Originally published by Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (reproduced with permission)

At the invitation of Judy Dempsey, Carnegie Europe, scholars, policy-makers and practitioners debate EU Democracy Promotion in this publication: "European democracy faces threats from both within and outside. To counter them, Europe needs leaders who are serious about upholding democratic values and addressing citizens' grievances'. Professor Korosteleva offered her take, as part of her work on SHAPEDEM-EU project. For more information please visit here.

Professor Korosteleva was interviewed by Ms Tetiana Fedosiuk, from the International Centre for Defence and Security, Estonia, during the Riga Conference. Her interview focus on 'Peoplehood in Belarus' as a crucial building block for democracy and why the hope for building still remains. This discussion was based on Elena's recent book 'Belarus in the XXI century' published by Routledge 2023. For the full interview please visit here: https://icds.ee/en/peoplehood-in-belarus-from-democracy-to-dictatorship-and-back/.

In line with our ‘Way to Sustainable’ strategy, this report provides case studies under the headings of Research, Education, Operations and Engagement, however much of our activity spans these categories. Meeting the SDGs is by nature a collaborative effort, and we are proud of our University community stepping up to play their part.

As part of the report you can also read about IGSD researchers' effort to contribute to sustainable development. E.g. you can find information there about Heri's and Feng's research, and a wider reference to all our projects.

Please read the full report here: https://warwick.ac.uk/sustainability/what-we-are-doing/strategy/performance-reporting/un_sustainable_development_goals_report_2022-23.pdf

Horizon Europe SHAPEDEM_EU project, launched in October 2022, has had its first annual in-person meeting in Krakow on 9-11 October 2023. The meeting brought together 12 institutional members of the consortium, to share and discuss knowledge co-production by different Work-Packages (WPs), and to engage with the EU officials on the developments in the EU neighbourhoods. In particular, Warwick team leading WP2 on assessing democracy promotion in the eastern neighbourhood, engaged with WP1 - the conceptual framework of the project - and discussed the progress and challenges for WP2 in undertaking fieldwork in Eastern Europe and capturing perceptions and practices of democracy on ground, covering Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, and the Caucasus - the countries affected by war, conflict, and internal/external oppression.